Columbia, July 10 (RHC)-- In the U.S. state of South Carolina, the Confederate battle flag that has flown on the South Carolina state House grounds for more than 50 years comes down today. Governor Nikki Haley signed a bill Thursday to permanently remove the flag, after the House and Senate overwhelmingly approved it earlier this week.

The flag came down at 10 a.m. local time on Friday, just over three weeks after the massacre of nine African-American churchgoers by suspect Dylann Roof, who embraced the Confederate flag.

As South Carolina lawmakers voted to take down the Confederate flag, Republicans in the U.S. Congress blocked a measure to remove it from the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, sending the resolution to a committee. House Republicans also introduced a measure to allow Confederate flags in national cemeteries.